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Tom Barton: Requiem for a dog's best friend

About three dozen people showed up for a remarkable memorial service late Tuesday afternoon in the shade of a huge oak tree in Forsyth Park near the tennis courts.

Margie, Shaggy and Rivers were there. So was a guy in a wheelchair and a frail-looking woman with a walker. Many sported tattoos. Some brought dogs.

A few drank stout beverages out of tall cans and sat on a battered sofa that got dragged out from somewhere.

They were racially mixed. A young black woman wore a T-shirt with the words, “I may not be cute, but Jesus said I was to die for.” Their ages ranged from Generation Y to geezerhood, although that’s a guess. Sleeping under bridges doesn’t contribute to a youthful glow.

They were the city’s homeless and near-homeless — as in people living in subsidized housing or crashing on a buddy’s spare couch. They were gathered on a gorgeous day at the city’s best park to pay respects to a 47-year-old woman named Donna, who died Saturday of natural causes.

She was one of them.

I was introduced to Donna in January by Hope Turner, who runs Maison Medical Spa. Turner told me that she had bumped into Donna — literally — in a parking lot. Donna, a stranger at the time, was agitated and disheveled. But she had a cute little dog with her. He was a seven-year-old, applehead chihuahua. His name was Sir Hubert.

January seems like ancient history. But four months ago, Savannah was suffering through a modern Ice Age. Temperatures dipped below freezing. The only hardy souls outdoors were those who had no choice — mail carriers, cops, sanitation workers and school crossing guards.

And Donna. She refused to seek shelter. Why? Because she would have to give up Sir Hubert, as shelters didn’t allow pets. She chose friendship and freezing over survival.

I wrote about this human-to-canine connection in a column. I wrote how Turner and her partner Abda Quillian pooled resources and pulled strings to help get Donna and Sir Hubert out of the cold (they had been sleeping in doorways and under bushes) and into a subsidized apartment near the park. I wrote that Sir Hubert got his own Facebook page. He still does. It has 418 “likes.”

“You have to understand homeless people,” said Margie Standard, who also befriended Donna and led the Tuesday service bare-footed. “Some don’t have love in their lives, but their dogs love them unconditionally. So they show unconditional love in return.”

Her observation applies to many non-homeless, too.

Standard — with an assist from Rivers, a young white guy with a bottle opener tied into one of his long dreads — talked about hardship, kindness, loyalty and forgiveness. They concluded a 30-minute service for a middle-aged woman who was invisible to most people, but who still mattered — to those on the street and to a little dog.

“This memorial was more genuine than many of the ones I’ve attended in fancy churches,” Quillian said. I’d have to agree.

And what about Sir Hubert’s future?

Here’s what was posted on his Facebook page Sunday: “My mom is not coming back. I have been with her since I was born seven years ago and it is scary without her. I wanted you all to know that she followed my Facebook everyday and was proud of the progress we had made. She would want me to thank you all for your support and your prayers. I have a long long road ahead without her but I know she can still see me. I will post again when ‘the arrangements’ are made. Think of me and keep us all in your thoughts and prayers. Puppy dog kisses but no tail wagging today. Happy Mother’s Day to the best mom a puppy dog could ever have! I will always love you. Hubert”

A requiem to a dog’s best friend. To the end. And to the beyond.

Tom Barton is the editorial page editor of the Savannah Morning News. tom.barton@savannahnow.com